Ramirez’s blooper could shift course of season
NEW YORK — A fading looper that went 200 feet — not even far enough to clear the fences at the Little League World Series — could very well be the play that defines the Yankees’ entire season.
In the top of the tenth inning in Friday’s Game 2 of the American League Division Series, Guardians’ third baseman Jose Ramirez lofted a weakly-hit ball into shallow left field.
Oswaldo Cabrera came in, Josh Donaldson went out, and Ramirez was motoring around the bases much faster than the Yankees’ fielders were pursuing the ball.
When the ball landed just in front of a sprawling Cabrera, the kid still learning left field was able to trap it to keep from rolling past him.
Then Donaldson got involved.
The over-eager third baseman gloved the ball, wheeled, and fired toward second base without really looking at the play.
By that time, Ramirez was basically walking into second, his hustle earning him an easy double.
Just as he was about to put it in park atop the second base bag, Ramirez watched Donaldson’s throw blaze past him and into right field.
Ramirez easily took third, scored on another dying quail one batter later, and just like that, the Guardians had seized the biggest moment in the biggest game of their season.
After the dust settled, both Donaldson and Cabrera gave their take on the game-swinging blooper that evaded them.
“We were both going for it,” Donaldson said. “I saw it out of the corner of my eye. He was going full steam ahead right there, so I backed off. The ball stayed close [to us] and I thought I had a chance at second, and I pulled the throw a little bit trying to make a play. Jose Ramirez does what he does, he keeps running.”
Cabrera noted that the afternoon start time made things a little hard to see, but would not use that as an excuse for missing the ball in the tenth inning, when the sun had started to set.
“It was hard [to see] for like, four innings,” he admitted. “I got a pop up that was right in the sun. I caught it, but it was like, ‘Whoa!’ ”
Later in the tenth, center fielder Harrison Bader took a very curious route to a ball that sailed over his head for a run-scoring double.
It looked like Bader had a hard time picking the ball up off the bat, though Cabrera said from left field, everything was fine.
“The sun was not a part [of the Ramirez play]. We tried. [Donaldson] tried to get that ball. I tried to get that ball. That’s just baseball, ya know?”